Fear vs Fact: Winter is Coming

Hello Nova, you confused swirl of skeptics and scaredy-cats. I’m a meteorologist that lives for this type of event. I’m speaking out to tell you, educated resident, whether you like it or not, winter is on the way to all of NOVA.

There is deep-rooted confidence for a widespread 4+ inches of accumulating snow/sleet. It will stick immediately. Most importantly, it will be peaking at the time of Monday morning’s commute. If this post even saves 6 vehicles from staying off the streets Monday morning, then I’ll feel a little better inside. /The majority of snowfall from this storm will have fallen by 11AM Monday./

The less-broadcasted aspect of this storm will be the sizable lull in the action Monday afternoon. Coined a “dry slot”, you might have heard about this phenomenon before, but it’s a great window of opportunity for road crews to get after it. And if I were you, I would let them, because they’ll have a lot to clear before the final 1 - 3 inches brushes across in the Monday evening/night timeframe.

If you’re nervous, this isn’t a super dangerous storm for the majority of NOVA. However, we will be getting at least 4 and up to 10 inches of snow. A good amount of icing too, the further south you venture. The temperatures for many days after this storm will remain below freezing, and untreated roads will be treacherous for multiple days. This would be the “dangerous” part of the storm, if you rely on untreated secondary roads.

Happy to answer comment threads about specific locations, but the general language of this post applies to anyone that could remotely consider themselves to be in NOVA.

TL;DR: Monday morning bad snow. Don’t fight it.

Edit for evening data updates: literally nothing has changed from the initial line of thinking here. If anything, amounts have trended higher especially along the 66 corridor. The media hype will grow in the next 36 hours. People will talk about “up to a foot”, and science supports it. Don’t say we didn’t warn ya!